4 ms·
The explanation I've seen is that Oumuamua is made of a "frozen cloud" and has lower mass than that used in the expected trajectory model, and was possibly push
by nick_ 7y ago
The explanation I've seen is that Oumuamua is made of a "frozen cloud" and has lower mass than that used in the expected trajectory model, and was possibly pushed by solar wind into that observed trajectory.
- aruggirello 7y agoIf you had read the article you'd know that's not possible, as solar wind would have had a negligible effect - unless the object was in practice a light sail. OTOH that hypothesis also doesn't sound correct IMHO - why would it appear to be tumbling with a fixed period?
- TheOtherHobbes 7y agoThe tumbling was a reasonable interpretation of light curve data. But the data was limited, and something else may have been happening.
- nick_ 7y agoThe article does not talk about the possibility of an ultralight frozen cloud. It only mentions one kind of "solar sail" structure.